Read Online The Beautiful People by E. J. Fechenda - Free Book Online

stronger.
A girl, a little bit younger than me, was waiting at the hostess stand. Her
eyes lit up when she saw us. “Dominic!” she squealed and threw herself at him. Dominic
gave the girl a big bear hug and actually lifted her off the ground. He set her
down and laughed. She looked at me curiously.
     “Natalie,
this is my cousin Bianca. Bianca, this is Natalie.”
                “It’s nice
to meet you,” I smiled and held out my hand. She shook it enthusiastically. The
girl radiated enthusiasm. She spun around like a pixie and grabbed a couple
menus.
    “The
usual table, D?” she asked as we followed her through a small dining area.
                “That’d be
great B,” he answered. Cute, D & B, I thought to myself. We entered what probably
would have been a living room at one time. There were several occupied tables
and a couple of people glanced up as we walked by, but most were absorbed in
their dinners. I couldn’t blame them, the food appeared delectable. We
proceeded through this room and Bianca led us through a set of double doors straight
into the kitchen. Pots and pans clanged, food sizzled on the stove by which an
older couple stood, arguing in Italian. The speech was so fast, I didn’t
recognize any words. The dining room was calm and the kitchen was chaos.
    Ignoring the arguing
couple, Bianca sat us at a small dinette table in the corner by the brick oven.
After she got us situated she spun around and shouted, “Ma, Pa, will you shut
it for two seconds! Look who’s here.” The silence was deafening. Who would have
thought such a little thing had such a big voice? The woman dropped a spatula she
had been wielding like a weapon into a big pot of red sauce and, wiping her
hands on her stained apron, waltzed over to us. She was short and round and her
full cheeks were bright pink from steam. She opened her arms up and Dominic
walked into her hug.
    “Dominic,
it’s so nice of you to stop in!” After their embrace she held him back at arm’s
length surveying him. She clucked and shook her head, “You’re too skinny Dominic.
Are you feeling well?” Dominic laughed and assured her he was just fine then he
introduced me.
     “Aunt
Gloria, this is Natalie Ross, my, um…my girlfriend.” I’m surprised my jaw
didn’t hit the floor. Girlfriend? I wasn’t ready for that, but didn’t correct
him. Instead, I recovered quickly enough and went to shake Gloria’s hand.
     “Oh,
please honey!” She cried and pulled me into a suffocating hug. Afterwards I
went through the same inspection as Dominic. I too was declared too skinny,
something I would never hear my mom say, and a loaf of fresh baked Italian
bread was brought over to the table. I was introduced to Uncle Franco after
Gloria had finished fussing over us. He brought over a bottle of red wine and
popped the cork, pouring us each a glass. Uncle Franco was tall and skinny,
with dark, olive skin. His soft brown eyes were kind, just like Bianca’s.
    “Sorry
you had to hear us arguing, Natalie,” he apologized in a deep voice.
    “It’s
alright.”
    Even though they were
arguing, the atmosphere wasn’t tense. I could sense the love between Gloria and
Franco. After being raised by a single mom it was nice to bear witness to a
relationship like that. I bit into a piece of the Italian bread and practically
swooned. It was still warm from the brick oven and the crusty exterior melted
away to a moist, soft center. I would have been satisfied with just the bread
and wine all night, but didn’t dare suggest that to Gloria.
    Franco fried up some
calamari and brought a heaping plate over. Dominic dipped a piece in the
marinara and popped it into my mouth. I had to close my eyes and savor the
moment. The golden batter was light and flaky and the marinara had a bit of
spice to it. I’d never had calamari like that before. Having an Italian God
feed it to me wasn’t too bad either. Dominic seemed entertained by my enjoyment
of the